Wilderness: Exploration
This mechanic allows all characters the ability to meaningfully contribute to traveling as well as increases player decision making, allowing the party to take calculated risks and reap the rewards or suffer the consequences at their own hands.
Overview
Each part of you D&D world can be divided into distinct regions. Each region is in some way unique, but while your adventuring party is attempting to traverse them they can be boiled down to four attributes.
Difficulty. DC of the group check required to gain Travel Dice. The plus-minus sign (±) determines the upper and lower DC.
Food: DC required to find food and water. Failing the DC results in no food or water being found, succeeding means the party finds food or water. The party can then roll again, succeeding a second time means food and water is found in abundance, while failing has no effect.
Shelter: DC needed to find appropriate shelter. Failing the DC results in no suitable shelter being found, Succeeding means the party can find shelter from all but the most dangerous weather conditions.
Speed: DC for what pace the party can traverse the region. Failing results in traveling at a slow pace, succeeding means the party can travel at a normal pace. The party can then roll again. Succeeding a second time allows the party to travel at a fast pace, failing has no effect.
after determining the speed at which the party can travel the party can choose to travel at Double Time and increase their travel pace while gaining adverse effects.
Double Time
For these variant travel rules, traveling at a fast or normal pace has no adverse effects on perception, stealth, gathering food and water, etc. A party that rolls poorly for their speed can choose to travel at Double Time increasing their travel pace, but gaining the following adverse effects.
- -5 penalty to passive Wisdom (Perception) scores
- Unable to use stealth
- Chance to become lost (ignore or use you own rule)
Resolving Travel
At the beginning of each travel day follow steps below to determine the results of the travel day.
Group Check. Each traveling character contributes to a Group Check with a DC set to the Difficulty attribute of the region. The group check has no associated skill, each character describes how they will assist with traversing the region and the DM assigns a skill and attribute for each character to roll for the Group Check.
Determine Travel Dice. After each character has rolled for the Group Check determine which level of Difficulty (Lower, Base, Upper) at least half of the group has passed and give the group the amount of Travel Dice listed in the table below.
If the Group Check fails to meet any Difficulty the party is assigned no Travel Dice.
Travel Table
| Difficulty | Travel Dice |
|---|---|
| Lower | 3d6 |
| Base | 4d6 |
| Upper | 5d6 |
Allocate Travel Dice. The party then allocates the Travel Dice between food, shelter, and speed. The party can choose not to allocate any Travel Dice to an attribute if they wish, this causes an automatic fail.
Roll Travel Dice. Using the Travel Dice assigned to each attribute roll and determine the party's success or failure in each attribute for that travel day.
Sample Region:
Moon Hills
Large, grassland
DIFFICULTY FOOD SHELTER SPEED 10±5 4 3 7 Special Rules
Planar Confluence. Parties that rest in the Moon Hills risk exposure to planar magic. When ever the characters complete a long rest here, roll a d20 and consult the table.
d20 Result 1-16 No effect 17-18 regain only half spent Hit Dice 19 gain inspiration 20 temporary hit points equal to character level Repetitive Terrain. Parties traveling off the roads or paths must always make a check agaisnt becoming lost no matter the travel speed.
Flavor
Wracked by energy from the Plane of Earth and dotted with crossings to the Feywild and the Shadowfell, the Moon Hills can be difficult to navigate away from the safety of Fallcrest and its immediate environs . The hills f orm a confusing mess of path s between their steep slopes.
Wilderness: Travel
This mechanic adds resource management to traveling and creates a cost/benefit relationship between time and risk. Normally the rate of travel never changes and 12 day trip will take 12 days regardless of the number of random encounters, because each day always results in a long rest or multiple short rests. Each travel day becomes episodical, rarely impacting the following day as far as class resources (Hit Points, Spells, Rage, Lay on Hands, etc.).
Overview
This rule variant makes the following changes to rest mechanics while traveling.
- Long rests and short rests can only be taken at the end of each travel day.
- Taking a long rest increases travel time by 25% of the time the trip takes at a normal pace (round down, minimum 1 day).
Interruption. If players are taken out of traveling mode during their trip, such as entering a dungeon then their current resources for travel become their maximum resources during the interruption and rest mechanics are handled as written until travel is resumed.
Therefore a party can only have less or equal resources completing a dungeon as they had when starting the dungeon.
Resources. In this context resources are considered anything that is recovered after a long or short rest
Handling Long and Short Trips
This travel varient takes issue with extremely long and short trips.
Long Distances. For traversing long distances the 25% increase in travel time for each long rest can make it mathematically impossible, therefore exceptionally long trips should be broken down into checkpoints or you can reduce the long rests to a 10% increase in travel time.
Short Distances. For trips that take less than 4 days you may decide to not allow any long rests or break travel down into hours instead, applying the long distances suggestion above if the amount of travel hours is exceptionally large.
Example
A party is traveling from Waterdeep to Neverwinter (12 day trip) when the party encounters a large gnoll lair at the following resources:
| Name | Hit Points | Spells | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vincent | 39/55 | 3/3 | 5/20 Lay on Hands |
The party can enter the dungeon at their current resources, but if they take any short or long rests while inside they can only recover to the amount of resources they had during travel, before entering as above. If Vincent were to lose 10 hit points (29/55) while in the gnoll lair taking a long rest or by spending Hit Dice could only recover him to 39/55 hit points.
If the party decides to take a long rest before entering the gnoll lair they can enter with full resources, but this adds 3 (25% of 12) days to their travel and is represented as the party making camp before setting into the dungeon or after leaving to recuperate.
Impacts
Using this rule variant travel time is directly impacted by the resource management of the players. Characters that carelessly expend spells or dash into combat will negatively affect the trip. A reckless party will be force to take more long rests extending their travel time. This affects food resources and may cause them to turn back or re-evaluate. Additionally, increased travel time raises the number of random encounters.
How the party handles the "traveling caravan of bandits" becomes more strategic. Choosing to fight may lead to a long rest and extend their travel, while letting them go can allow the party to make it to the capital in time to save the queen. Normal travel mechanics would allow the party to easily accomplish both. A long rest would occur that day after stopping the bandit caravan, just as it would if there were no bandit caravan in the first place.